Kat’s Pause: Winners

Thursday

Mar 7, 2013 at 2:00 AMMar 7, 2013 at 11:00 PM

Barnstable fans have been called many things: jerks, jabronies, nuisances. This week they deserve to be called winners.

Kathleen Szmit

Kathleen Szmit Pho to CLASSY – As the Barnstable boys ice hockey team heads into the locker room after a tough loss to Hingham in the MIAA Div. 1 South semifinals, fans cheer loudly from the stands above.

Barnstable fans have been called many things: jerks, jabronies, nuisances. This week they deserve to be called winners.

On March 6 when the BHS boys varsity ice hockey team battled Hingham in the MIAA Div. 1 South semifinals, Barnstable fans packed the house. When the Raiders scored the game’s first goal, their applause was thunderous. When the game turned south for the Raiders, their cheers became a mix of enthusiasm and encouragement.

However, it was when a win was out of reach for the Raiders that their fans truly shined.

As it became clear that Barnstable would be bested by Hingham, the traditional back-and-forth cheer taunts fell by the wayside. This is typically where cheering can get dicey, and has in the past.

This time, though, the pride, respect and honor of those cheering on their hockey-playing classmates topped all nastiness. Collectively the crowd segued from “let’s go Stable” to “we still love you!”

Individual players, especially seniors, were singled out and praised by their shouting peers. Even coach Nickerson was lauded with a “we love Scotty” cheer. Leading the charge were members of the 2012 varsity football team, who understood their friends’ heartbreak and were determined to do something to ease it.

What surely helped was what happened at the end of the game. As players, heads hung low, skated off the ice and trudged into the locker room, Barnstable fans remained in their seats or lined up along the railing, clapping and cheering with gusto.

There was no swearing. There were no put-downs. There was just the sound of Raider Pride throughout the Gallo arena.